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"You know, I used to think that life was terribly unfair. Then I thought, wouldn't it be much worse if life were fair? If all the terrible things that happen to us come because we actually deserve them? So now I take great comfort in the general hostility and unfairness of the universe." ~~Marcus Cole

Getting the character of Commander Sinclair into the B5 Story... as he should have been if not for M O Hare's unfortunate illness.

Okay so since I am new here I've been reading and reviving some threads. Recently there has been some speculation about recasting characters in another thread so I thought I would find a reboot thread to discuss this in more detail. Thankfully this last post gives me somewhere to start. So consider this thread revived.

As much as I would love to have seen O'Hare continue into Season 2 and onward in the arc to see where it went I'm not sure that it would have been as interesting, or at least not as unique. I think the fact that he was so successfully replaced in the show gives Babylon 5 a real unique story. I'm not saying it would have been bad had he continued, but from a storytelling point of view it might have seemed more basic to have a hero continue versus the twist we ended up with.

So when the reboot feature film happens I think we are all going to be treated to alternate Universe Babylon 5. I think the setup will be the same, United Nations in Space. What I am really curious to know is if he will do a feature that is the opening of Babylon 5 or will it be a feature based on why there needs to be a Babylon 5. After that decision I think JMS will tell us a new story that is the same as the old story. I don't mean the same plot, but the same and/or update themes and meanings.

Having read through the thread I've seen things I've liked and disliked. Here are a couple of things I can remember offhand. One is a remark Ubik made about the lighting and how the reboot should look more like The Gathering, darker and more lived in. I agree with this to a large degree. Science Fiction movies today tend to rely on bright and shiny because it seems futuristic or something. My opinion is that much of the station should have a dim look to it. We are talking about a large tin can in space after all. That does not mean there aren't places that should be bright and colorful. There should be a bright Zocalo, but there should also be low rent shopping areas. There should be bright places, but not everywhere.

I don't recall who said it, but the storytelling should definitely be more adult. There should be ambiguous characters, but not EVERY character should be ambiguous. I mean Sheridan played the classic hero, but both he and Delenn did questionable things. To a degree I think Sheridan did them more so. The thing is much of the time the audience had to think about it and in many instances it was slow burn. You had to realize over time that what he did might not have been the best move. You always knew that what he or Delenn did usually came from a good place in their souls, but they weren't perfect and even they had their ingrained biases.

Okay it is late and I am flagging. I will say one more little tidbit. I read someone mentioned seeing the story of the Icarus. Well if the original arc is going to be retold in the form of a reboot I absolutely would not want to see the story of the Icarus until late in the show. One of the best parts of B5 was the slow reveal on the Icarus. Seeing the Icarus go to Z'Ha'Dum and awaken the Shadows early in the arc would not be nearly as interesting as slowly finding out about it over time.

A reboot without B4 going back in time and Sinclair's whole fate would seem weird to me, in the extreme. That was the best moment in science fiction television, for me. It was so perfect, I had no idea for years that it wasn't the original story plan.

Sinclair could have done some of the Marcus stuff.

I really can't say what I'd love to see in a remake, other than having more science fiction that isn't almost a cardboard cut out of the last one. Entertainment has gotten into a rut. I watch more sic fi on BBCA than anywhere else, these days.

A reboot without B4 going back in time and Sinclair's whole fate would seem weird to me, in the extreme. That was the best moment in science fiction television, for me. It was so perfect, I had no idea for years that it wasn't the original story plan.

Sinclair could have done some of the Marcus stuff.

I really can't say what I'd love to see in a remake, other than having more science fiction that isn't almost a cardboard cut out of the last one. Entertainment has gotten into a rut. I watch more sic fi on BBCA than anywhere else, these days.

Like many stories I would have loved to see things have played out over more time. I know Sinclair was on Minbar for over a year, but I would have liked to see that stretched out longer to give more substance to the Rangers devotion to him. And I agree with hypatia on B4. I HATE time travel in Science Fiction, but to date that is still the best use of time travel I've ever seen - and I've see A LOT because it seems like 95% of Science Fiction seems to want to throw time travel in at some point.

Yes, time travel and Star Trek seem to get together more often than is reasonable to willingly suspend disbelief. :thumbs: But at a one-time, extremely dangerous and energy intensive event plus some powerful help made the entire loop suddenly put the Earth-Minbar relationship become crystal clear in a way that was never expected (by me).

But at a one-time, extremely dangerous and energy intensive event plus some powerful help made the entire loop suddenly put the Earth-Minbar relationship become crystal clear in a way that was never expected (by me).

Me either. Never saw it coming. As a matter of fact if I had seen all of Season One the first time around I would have hated seeing Babylon Squared. That episode alone might have made me rethink watching the series just because there was time travel and the setup for future episodes to have time travel. This might be the first time I've realized a positive reason I didn't see all of Season One when it first aired.